this morning on "early today," the debate that did not disappoint. who came out on top and who stretched the facts? our truth squad weighs in. a cyber pearl harbor. defense secretary panetta says the risk of a devastating cyber attack is all too real. and nobel prizes and chocolate. the curious connection between the prestigious prize and the the curious connection between the prestigious prize and the sweet treat. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. i'm lynn berry. joe biden and paul ryan went head to head in their only face-off. they clashed on almost every issue. who won?

two post debate polls give us very different views. a cnn/orc pole showed paul ryan ahead of joe biden 48% over 44%. this pole showed 50% compared to 31% for ryan and 19% called the debate a tie. for a look at some of the highlights from last night's debate we go now to nbc's steve handles men who is at the site in danville, kentucky. steve, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, thanks. good morning from danville, kentucky, where they differed sharply on practically all the big issues but these are smart, well-informed politicians. paul ryan and joe biden both had reason to feel good about how that came across here last night. a long-time democratic insider versus a republican young gun whose ticket has new momentum. mitt romney was watching. barack obama too.

moderator martha raddatz of abc. they tangled on iran. >> we're moving faster toward a nuclear weapon. it's because this administration has no credibility on this issue. >> we will not allow the iranians to get a nlear weapon. you're going to go to war, is that what you want to do? >> we want to prevent war. >> reporter: on the middle class what about mitt romney saying 47% of americans feel entitled to government benefits? >> i think the vice president very well knows that sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way. >> but i always say what i mean. >> reporter: what about the obama stimulus, the recovery? >> job growth in september was slower than it was in august and august was slower than it was in july. we're heading in the wrong direction. >> 5.2 million new jobs -- private sector jobs. >> was it a good idea to spend taxpayer dollars on electric cars in finland or on windmills in china? >> this was exactly what we

needed to stop us from going off the cliff. >> reporter: can a middle class tax hike be prevented if the wealthy get a tax cut? >> it's not mathematically possible. >> it is mathematically possible. it's been done before. >> it has never been done before. >> reporter: on the style side, biden smiled a lot. ryan, a debate rookie, kept his cool. so did ryan add to the romney momentum or did biden help put the obama campaign back on track? now the pollsters go to work to try to figure o that out while voters digest the second of four debates. danville, kentucky, i'm steve handles men, nbc news, lynn, back to you. steve, thanks so much. nbc's andrea mitchell led our truth squad in danville last night with a fact check of the debate. she started with the deadly september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi and paul ryan accusing the obama administration not correctly protecting the personnel.

>> what we should not be doing is rejecting claims for calls for more security in our barracks, in our marine. we need marines in benghazi when the commander on the ground says we need more forces for security. there were requests for extra security. those requests were not honored. >> reporter: vice president biden called the deaths a tragedy but he said they did not know ambassador stevens and other personnel on the ground had been asking for more security help. >> we weren't told they wanted more security there. we did not know they wanted more security. and, by the way, at the time we were told exactly -- we said exactly what the intelligence community told us that they knew. that was the assessment. >> reporter: it was an assessment, but the state department did know. in real time from videos that requests for more security and resources had been made and were turned down. a state department official acknowledged testifying on capital hill only yesterday. there was also a sharp disagreement tonight on medicare. biden charged that ryan's

original plan would raise out of pocket costs for most seniors. >> look, folks, use your common sense. who do you trust on this, a man who introduced a bill that would raise it 40 to $6400 a year knowing it and passing it and romney saying sign it or me and the president? >> reporter: ryan objected. >> that statistic was completely misleading but more importantly. >> those are you the facts. >> this is what politicians do when they don't have a rrd to run on, try to scare people from voting for you. >> reporter: in fact, on this, biden is right. the congressional budget office said that ryan's first budget plan would force most future seniors to pay increased costs out of pocket, that amount or more. whethea revised plan would cost more is still uncertain. that was nbc's andrea michle reporting. here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. we're going to begin with a frightening collision that almost killed three people. a new york city ambulance was

responding to a call when an suv barrelled into it. the impact was so powerful that it caused the ambulance to topple over. the suv driver and two paramedics suffered severe neck injuries. all are expected to survive. take a look at this rare sight. paramedics used a special mask to save birds. they were rescued from a raging house fire. there were no people inside but unfortunately there were three cats that did not make it out. finally, you're not going to believe what washed up on a florida beach. can you imagine finding this? that is a giant eyeball the size of a softball and it has been turned over to florida wildlife officials. the discovery has marine biologists and all of us completely stumped. they are not sure what kind of sea creature has such a huge eye. some speculate it could belong to a giant squid and okay two pus. all agree it is blue and it is big. we don't need the truth squad

for that. now for a look at your national and regional weather, we check in with meteorologist bill karngs. >> happy friday to you. i believe in mccrack kin. >> solved. >> the mystery creature from pirate books. good morning, everyone. we're going into an active period of weather this weekend. we have a storm that's moved into southern california, it will move into the middle. country. we're watching a storm system this morning kicking through northern portions of new england with some cold, chilly rain at the highest elevations in northern maine, maybe a little bit of snow. as far as the worst weather this morning, the line of showers and thunderstorms dove out of areas of missouri and is sliding into areas of the greater nashville, tennessee, area. worst drive, interstate 40 anywhere from nashville heading anywhere to the west. this has a lot of lightening too. i'm sure some of that thunder will be waking some people up earlier this morning in areas of central tennessee. as far as other areas of stormy weather, we're not looking at

anything too bad out there. later this afternoon we have an isolated risk of severe storms. this is north texas into areas of western extreme portions of kansas. isolated strong storms. damaging hail and some gusty winds. as far as the airports go today, the nashville area, we'll watch that. much of the country is sitting there with a fall day. the weekend will give us some trouble. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. so a quiet day today. areas like new york city, most of that rain in northern new england will stay up there this morning. colder air, too, through the great lakes behind this next front. highs in areas like ohio only going to be in the 50s. and i guess the big weather story is severe weather possible saturday, even tornadoes. i'll give you details on that coming up. >> bill, thanks. the pearl harbor cyber attack, the biggest diamond in the universe and some of the biggest california tax cheats. your early morning headlines are

straight ahead. walmart has a heart. taking health care to a whole new level with a major announcement. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." stories making news this morning. defense secretary leon panetta warns the u.s. is becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks that could dismantle the power grid, transportation system and financial networks. last night he painted a dire picture. >> the collective result of these kinds of attacks could be a cyber pearl harbor. an attack that would cause physical destruction and the loss of life. the lebanese militant group hezbollah is claiming responsibility for this calling it an unprecedented achievement. the obama administration has declared the l.a. gank m.s. 13

an international crime group. scientists say they've discovered a planet twice the size of earth that's largely made by diamonds. it encircles a nearby star every 18 hours. one of the stories trending on nbc news.com has to do with past winners of the nobel prize. a new study found correlations between eating chocolate and nobel winners. sounds good, right? countries whose population consumed more chocolate also took home more of the prize. switzerland came in first while china and brazil were at the bottom. well, now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,326 after falling 18 points yesterday. the s&p was up a fraction but the nasdaq lost 2. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo the nikkei dipped 12 points but in hong kong the hang seng gained 137. a worrying trend has emerged on wall street. u.s. companies with foreign

earnings exposure. after the bell thursday chip maker advanced micro devices followed a number of companies to warn this week that global economic weakness is taking a toll on their bottom line. stocks lacked direction thursday as investors mostly shrugged off good and bad news including fewer weekly jobless claims and a ratings cut for spain. a few stocks jumped after reports of potential new owners. sprint nextel soared after a report that it could be bide by soft bank and defense truck maker oshkosh shot up on news carl icon offered to buy the company for almost $3 billion. elsewhere, big changes to walmart's employee health care plan. starting next year the megachain will offer u.s. employees and their families free heart, spine, and transplant surgeries at six major health centers including the mayo and cleveland clinics. the reason, walmart believes paying more to get the job done right the first time saves on costly complications.

it's going to cost another penny to mail a letter next year. the cash strapped u.s. postal service will raise rates on january 27th to help offset a record $15 billion in losses this year. that means if you stocked up on those forever stamps back in 2007 when they debuted for 41 cents, you're now saving a nickel a piece. not bad. finally, do you get a warm, fuzzy feeling when you see that thumbs up sign next to your facebook post. come on, we all do, right? well, some creative students at m.i.t. have taken that a step further designing a vest that inflates to give you a hug when someone likes your facebook status. so sweet. coming up, the a's are sent packing, a late field goal makes the difference in the steelers/titans game, plus san francisco slams into the nlcs. your sports headlines are straight ahead. your weekend forecast is going to be full of strong thunderstorms. those details are coming up. you're watching "early today." [ female announcer ] it's one of the hardest decisions

a family can make... realizing a nursing home is the only choice. for many middle class families, medicaid is the only way to afford the care. but as a governor, ised nursing home fees eight times. and as president, his budget cuts medicaid by one-third and burdens families with the cost of nursing home care. have a presidentnt, his budget who won't let that happen. [ obama ] i'm barack obama and i approved this message. good morning. in sports we're going to begin in oakland where tigers reining cy young winner and mvp justin verlander struck out 11 with a 6-0 win. now to cincinnati where san

francisco's buster posey hit a grand slam in a sixth run fifth inning. this helped sail a three game win. in new york, the orioles j.j. hardy hit an rbi double in the 13th. baltimore held on to win it 2-1 and force game five against the yanks. in washington, jason werth ended with a season saving walk off homer. they forced game five as well. on thursday night football, the titans rallied in the fourth quarter starting with a five yard touchdown pass from matt hasselbeck to kenny britt tying the game at 23-23. later, rob a reason nis kicked his fourth field goal of the night. a 40 yarder. it was a 23-23 titan victory over the steelers. finally, michael vick who served 18 months in prison on dog fighting charges has confirmed he has a dog. vick was band from having a dog

until after completing a probation period. after he wanted to own one it set off a firestorm and fans who thought the star should never be allowed to have a dog. in a statement vick said, quote, our pet is well cared for and loved as a member of our family. >> announcer: early today sports is brought to you by new just for men auto stop. gray is over. just ahead, a roundup of what's new at the box office this weekend and which celebrities are on california's naughty list, plus it's tee time as former nba bad boy dennis rodman shows off his softer side. you're watching "early today."

well welcome back to "early today." as far as the weekend goes, saturday's the dangerous day. that's when the strong storms are going to be forming and kicking out into the central plains. high pressure over the middle of the country will pump the warm, humid air across the north. it will be iowa, missouri, possibly wisconsin and southern portions of minnesota. the slight risk goes from minneapolis all the way down through dallas. a few tornadoes are possible. saturday is the day you need to be aware of if you live in the midwest. well, if you're watching us on twva news in tupelo, mississippi, don't miss live music. the 2012 chili fest in downtown tupelo. that's your early today event of the day. little chill in the air. now here's a look at some

entertainment news and the new movies hitting theaters. ben affleck directs and stars in a movie that will take in around $20 million. the family comedy "here comes the boom" stars kevin james who takes up mixed marshal arts. >> that will be number one. >> i like the unitard. the supernatural horror pick, "sinister" starring ethan hawk as a writer who finds a box of gruesome home movies. here's a list you don't want to end up on. california's tax board says singer dionne warwick and steven is he gal are the top 500 people pay owing the most taxes. warwick owes 2.6 million while is he gal oes 350,000. finally, talent must run in the family. according to ancestry.com justin

bieber is a relative of ryan gosselin. their family links date back 400 years back to the earliest settlers. i promise i did not make this up. i do want to go to thanksgiving with them. this comes to us from wtvj where former nba bad boy dennis rodman composed himself long enough for a special group of tea. he no longer dresses in drag but he shows he could still relate to the ladies. rodman was a special guest at a tea party hosted by a nonprofit at a new american girls store. he answered questions and advised the girls to keep failure out of their lives. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

it is 4:28. a live look tside. 50 degrees outside our studios. what you can expect today and through the weekend is coming up. our adversaries are much more willing to test us, and they're brazen in their attacks. >> with all due respect, that's a lot of mularkey. >> a night of lively exchanges between joe biden and paul ryan as they try to make their cases for the upcoming election. good morning. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. it does not get any better than this.

with their backs against the wall, the nationals win their first postseason game since 1993 to keep their playoff run alive, and they did it in dramatic fashion. >> looking up, way back, it's gone! >> we're not worthy. jayson werth came up in the clutch crushing a home run in the bottom of the ninth to force a decisive game five, and the place went absolutely nuts. werth says this experience is exactly why he came to d.c. two years ago. >> my first day here, i went to a capitals game, a hockey game, and the place was packed. they said -- somebody said, just a few short years ago, this place was empty. so i knew that a winning ball club would bring the fans, and here we are two years later, and they're showing up. and it's awesome. >> adam laroche also came up big in the win with a solo home run. and starting pitcher russ debt